Minimum income level

The proportion of people in households living below the minimum income standard increased by one fifth between 2008-09 and 2011-12, according to a new analysis from researchers at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The minimum income standard (MIS) is set according to what the public think is needed for a minimum socially acceptable standard of living in the UK.

Would an independent Scotland choose a significantly different social settlement with a more generous social minimum than the rest of the UK? Drawing on the PSE UK findings into attitudes to necessities, Nick Bailey investigates.

There has been much debate on the merits of tackling inequality by prioritising ‘pre-distribution` - of attempting to achieve a more equal distribution of the cake before turning to ‘redistribution’ through tax and benefits. Stewart Lansley examines the possible impact of a number of measures on wage levels and the wage share.

Many EU member states still fail to provide adequate protection for their citizens against low income, according to researchers at the Centre for Social Policy in Antwerp. Their paper looks at patterns of convergence and divergence in minimum income schemes in EU countries over the last 20 years, and highlights 'sharp variations'.

Many families with children receiving the new universal credit will fall short of an adequate standard of living, as measured by the Minimum Income Standard, according to new calculations released by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The Minimum Income Standard is based on research into what members of the general public believe is needed to achieve an acceptable living standard.

The cost of a minimum acceptable standard of living has risen by a quarter since the start of the economic downturn, according to a new analysis from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The report provides the 2013 update of the minimum income standard (MIS) for the United Kingdom, based on what members of the public think people need for an acceptable minimum standard of living. The MIS was first calculated in 2008.

Austerity policies have increased 'idleness' and given rise to the additional problem of disguised underemployment, according to a think-tank report. The authors call for a fiscal policy designed to promote employment, coupled with a complete redesign of the income tax, national insurance and benefits systems.

Working-age households without children have seen their incomes hit harder by the recession than any other group, according to a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Young single adults have also suffered compared with others.

The study (the first in an annual series) examined changes in the adequacy of household incomes in the early part of the latest recession, and identified the risk for different groups of being below the minimum income standard (MIS) – defined as the income people need in order to reach a minimum socially acceptable standard of living in the UK today, based on what members of the public think.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, has said he could manage to live on £53 a week 'if he had to'. He had been challenged on the BBC's Today programme by a market trader, David Bennett, who said he was forced to survive on that amount – his net income 'after paying rent and bills'. (The current level of jobseeker's allowance is £71.70 a week for those aged 25 or over.)

Following the programme, an online petition gathered 460,000 signatures, in the space of ten days, calling on Duncan Smith to prove his claim in practice.

A universal payment of €50 per month per child aged under six could take 800,000 children out of poverty across Europe, according to a study commissioned by the European Commission into the potential effects of introducing a child basic income.

The researchers made use of EUROMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the EU, to look at the distributional implications (within and between countries) of an illustrative child basic income operated and funded at EU level.

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PSE:UK is a major collaboration between the University of Bristol, Heriot-Watt University, The Open University, Queen's University Belfast, University of Glasgow and the University of York working with the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. ESRC Grant RES-060-25-0052.